A YEAR OF BOOKS [2020]

In January I decided to keep a list of every book I read (for pleasure, not work) throughout 2020.

In total I read 151 books.

I rated each book out of 5 – ratings for each entry are in [square brackets]. The books I’ve read previously are noted [reread].

On International Women’s Day 2019 I realised I needed to support women in the same way that I champion men. I clocked how little work by women I had in my library, admitting (to my shame) that 99% of my favourite writers are/were 20th century white European men. Men have always been more central to my daily life than women and, while that’s not and never has been a deliberate choice, I decided to actively choose to read more work by women and discover new female authors. By the end of last year I’d say 40% of my reading was work by women which was a big leap for me. So…

LOOK AT HOW MANY WOMEN WRITERS I READ/ENJOYED/FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS YEAR!!!!

By my calculations, only 18% of the books I read in 2020 were written by men (and nearly half of those books were rereads (favourites by those dead white men I mentioned above).

So I read 82% works by women, as well as a range of genres: more poetry, memoir, translations of lesser known books, works by indie/debut writers, fiction, scripts, chapbooks and anthologies, long- and short-listed novels, and prize winners by authors from all over the world, choosing traditionally under-represented/unheard writers over dead white men all year long!

I’m delighted with my reading experiences this year – bring on 2021.

Here’s the full list

JANUARY

1. The Flame – Leonard Cohen [5 out of 5]
2. Up The Junction – Nell Dunn [4]
3. Little Weirds – Jenny Slate [2]
4. This Is Pleasure – Mary Gaitskill [4]
5. In The Dream House – Carmen Maria Machado [5]
6. There but for the – Ali Smith [3]
7. Poemland – Chelsey Minnis [5]
8. Quit Like A Woman – Holly Whitaker [3]
9. Zirconia – Chelsey Minnis [3]
10. Bad Bad – Chelsey Minnis [4]
11. Lima :: Limón – Natalie Scenters-Zapico [5]
12. My Lovely Wife – Mark Lukach [4]
13. The Falconer – Dana Czapnik [5]
14. Baby, I Don’t Care – Chelsey Minnis [4]
15. Isn’t Forever – Amy Key [3]
16. Rabbit – Sophie Robinson [5]
17. Gather The Daughters – Jennie Melamed [3]
18. The Bitch Goddess Notebook – Martha O’Connor [2]
19. Bunny – Mona Awad [2]
20. The Furies – Katie Lowe [4]
21. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – Olga Tokarczuk [5]
22. Adults – Emma Jane Unsworth [4]

 

FEBRUARY

45. Wilful Disregard – Lena Andersson [4]
46. Childhood – Tove Ditlevsen [5]
47. Youth – Tove Ditlevsen [5]
48. Dependency – Tove Ditlevsen [5]
49. Queenie – Candice Carty-Williams [5]
50. Keeper – Jessica Moor [2]
51. Ugly Music – Diannely Antigua [4]
52. Too Much and Not the Mood: Essays – Durga Chew-Bose [3]
53. Shadow Black – Naima Tokunow [3]
54. Saltwater – Jessica Andrews [5]
55. How Should A Person Be? – Sheila Heti [3]

 

MAY

56. Character Breakdown – Zawe Ashton [4]
57. La Belle Ajar – Adrian Ernesto Cepeda [3]
58. Starling Days – Rowan Hisayo Buchanan [5]
59. Heating + Cooling: 52 Micro Memoirs – Beth Ann Fennelly [4]
60. The Lost Night – Andrea Bartz [2]
61. Green Girl – Kate Zambreno [5]
62. Territory of Light – Yuko Tsushima [4]
63. High Society – Ben Elton [4]
64. Rabbits for Food – Binnie Kirschenbaum [5]

 

JUNE

65. Heatstroke – Hazel Barkworth [3]
66. The Lightness – Emily Temple [2]
67. Create Dangerously – Albert Camus [re-read] [5]
68. Wild Nights: New & Selected Poems – Kim Addonizio [4]
69. The Discomfort of Evening – Marieke Lucas Rijneveld [5]
70. Bukowski in a Sundress – Kim Addonizio [4]
71. The Writing Life – Annie Dillard [3]
72. Good Morning, Midnight – Jean Rhys [re-read] [5]
73. Make it Scream, Make it Burn – Leslie Jamison [3]
74. Coming Undone: A Memoir – Terri White [3]
75. Thin Skin – Emma Forrest [2]

 

JULY

76. Tennis Lessons – Susannah Dickey [3]
77. Sylvia – Leonard Michaels [4]
78. The Couple Next Door – Shari Lapena [2]
79. Shelf Life – Livia Franchi [2]
80. Everything Under – Daisy Johnson [2]
81. The Grief of the Sea – Jennifer Edgecombe [5]
82. Pew – Catherine Lacy [4]
83. Black Cloud – Juliet Escoria [5]
84. Tampa – Alissa Nutting [3]
85. Broken Sleep Books Anthology – ed. Aaron Kent [5]

 

AUGUST

86. These Women – Ivy Pochoda [4]
87. Katerina – James Frey [1]
88. Peach – Emma Glass [4]
89. Exciting Times – Naoise Dolan [4]
90. Sweet Days of Discipline – Fleur Jaeggy [5]
91. Hot Little Hands – Abigail Ulman [2]
92. He Is Mine and I Have No Other – Rebecca O’Connor [2]
93. Death in Her Hands – Otessa Moshfegh [2]
94. Things We Have in Common – Tasha Kavanagh [2]
95. Life of the Party – Tea Hacic-Vlahovic [4]
96. Nowhere To Be Found – Bae Suah [3]
97. Year of the Monkey – Patti Smith [4]

 

SEPTEMBER

98. Veronica – Mary Gaitskill [4]
99. A Girl’s Story – Annie Ernaux [5]
100. Glorious Rock Bottom – Bryony Gordon [4]
101. Dwelling insanity – Yash Sanghvi [1]
102. Widow Basquiat – Jennifer Clement [re-read] [5]
103. The Heatwave – Kate Riordan [4]
104. Rheuma – William Gee [5]
105. Imperfect Women – Araminta Hall [1]
106. A Moth To A Flame – Stig Dagerman [4]
107. Brixton Hill – Lottie Moggach [4]
108. Supper Club – Lara Williams [5]
109. Poverty Safari – Darren McGarvey [3]
110. Reality Hunger: A Manifesto – David Shields [re-read] [5]
111. The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer [5]
112. The Woman Destroyed – Simone de Beauvoir [re-read] [4]
113. A Spy in The House of Love – Anais Nin [re-read] [5]
114. Weather – Jenny Offill [5]

 

OCTOBER

115. Dept. of Speculation – Jenny Offill [re-read] [2]
116. Where The Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens [4]
117. Mourning Diary – Roland Barthes [re-read] [5]
118. A Very Easy Death – Simone de Beauvoir [re-read] [4]
119. Nadja – Andre Breton [re-read] [5]
120. On The Shortness of Life – Seneca [re-read] [4]
121. Boy Parts – Eliza Clark [5]
122. Ghosts – Dolly Alderton [1]
123. Loyalties – Delphine de Vigan [3]
124. My Thoughts Exactly – Lily Allen [3]

 

NOVEMBER

125. Crossing the Water – Sylvia Plath [re-read] [4]
126. Harmless Like You – Rowan Hisayo Buchanan [4]
127. The Custard Heart – Dorothy Parker [3]
128. Based on a True Story – Delphine de Vigan [3]
129. How To Write It – Anthony Anaxagorou [5]
130. Tristessa – Jack Kerouac [re-read] [5]
131. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Maggie O’Farrell [3]
132. The Haunted Reader and Sylvia Plath – Gail Crowther [2]
133. The High Moments – Sara-Ella Ozbek [4]
134. This Book is Brought to You by My Student Loans – Megan J. Kaleita [4]
135. Skint Estate – Cash Carraway [5]
136. I’m From Nowhere – Lindsay Lerman [3]
137. Lanny – Max Porter [5]
138. Nil Nil – Don Paterson [3]
139. Godspeed: A Memoir – Casey Legler [4]
140. Nothing Holds Back the Night – Delphine de Vigan [5]
141. Poems for Ghosts in Empty Tenement Windows – Stephen J. Golds [5]

 

DECEMBER

142. Out of Touch – Haleh Agar [3]
143. Hurricane Season – Fernanda Melchor [5]
144. Men Without Women – Haruki Murakami [3]
145. Beside the Sea – Veronique Olmi [5]
146. Blue Ticket – Sophie Mackintosh [5]
147. Serious Concerns – Wendy Cope [3]
148. Melmoth – Sarah Perry [3]
149. Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart [4]
150. Last Vanities – Fleur Jaeggy [4]
151. The Existence of Amy – Lana Grace Riva [3]